APRIL 28, 1945

NEW YORK, Friday—The Congressional committee now visiting concentration camps in Germany are viewing
things which we at home find it difficult to take in. The horror-filled pictures and
stories which we have been getting day by day in our various newspapers make one shudder.
The sufferings inflicted on war victims is cruel enough. But one also wonders what
must have been done to a people who are willing to inflict such suffering. Something
must have happened that we know nothing about to turn people who were highly educated
and civilized into sadists who enjoy seeing other human beings suffer.

I read that one of our men, who had been a prisoner of the Germans and who is now
back in this country, laughed when it was suggested that the townspeople near one
of these camps did not know what was going on. He pointed out that there was constant
communication between the camp and the town, and that it would have been impossible
for the people of the town to be oblivious of what was happening. It is therefore
not just a question of soldiers obeying orders. It is a question of civilians reaching
such a state of servitude that they accepted without protest whatever happened to
other human beings.

* * *

No wonder we are concerned about what kind of government and education shall be carried
on during the occupation period. None of us can achieve much that is worthwhile unless
we understand what happened to these people; and I am frank to say that, for me, it
is still a complete mystery. I went to school with German girls, I have known German
men and women. The military caste always seemed to me obnoxious, both as travel companions
and as passers-by on the street. But the average human beings in Germany seemed just
like other people.

The Nazi regime, the SS and the Gestapo are, of course, an obvious explanation. But
how could they have become entrenched without the people being aware of what was happening?
That is the really terrifying question. One wonders if other people could be fooled
in the same way, and one longs to know how to prevent its happening anywhere to any
people ever again.

* * *

Our men who have been prisoners of war, and who have seen these horrors which we read
about, will have lost some of that confidence in their fellow human beings which is
part of the heritage of every American citizen. It will take time to make them believe
again that predominately people have good intentions, and I don't think they will
be patient with talk which does not materialize into action.